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search is crap - whats the best way to make it better?

Hey there,

I'm looking for a better solution for visitors who want to search my site. At the minute I have just the bog standard search header box at the top of my main page - babyclothingcentral.co.uk - and it's just not all that good at returning any decent results.

For instance if I type in 'hats' I get no results despite the fact I've a category called hats.

I've searched the forum and the add-ons page and I've seen that there are a number of mods available for example search helper and advanced search plus, i've also seen people using a custom google search within their site.

I'd like to know people's opinions on whats the best solution? And are there other (even if i have to pay for them) solutions which I haven't mentioned?

Re: search is crap - whats the best way to make it better?

I have the exact same question. I installed Advanced Search Plus this morning thinking it might help, but it made no difference at all. I understand the search engine searches product descriptions, but it doesn't do so accurately. Does anyone know if there is a way to program it to search by manufacturer and/or product name as well?

Re: search is crap - whats the best way to make it better?

Hey Janislyn,

so the advanced search plus isn't as good as you'd hoped? Have you tried a custom google search? I'd love to hear from someone with a bit of experience with all this, I'm not very quick at installing and setting things up and the thought of spending weeks trying them all out is a bit daunting.

Re: search is crap - whats the best way to make it better?

No, the advanced search add-on didn't do what I was looking for it to accomplish. I basically want a search function that will return a product when one puts in that particular product's name, etc. It didn't help with that... even if the name was in the product description. So, I'm out of luck on that score. I've not tried installing any other search engines, but I did put a manufacturer dropdown menu next to the search bar so that customers can "shop by brand" via the menu or "enter keywords" into the search box. I find the dropdown menu much more useful for my store, but I would like a decent search engine.